Plasma-free radical-enhanced ALD

Mengdi Yang

Plasma-Enhanced Atomic Layer Deposition is a new technique for depositing thin films. The plasma in this method generates radicals, leading to depositions at a relatively low temperature. In the last few years this technique has become very popular in the manufacturing of modern-day microchips such as the Intel Core and Intel Atom processors. But the use of plasmas comes with drawbacks; the deposited materials have less than ideal properties. In this project, we aim to advance the technique by depositing layers with radicals but without plasma. After building a system capable of such depositions we will grow thin films using this new equipment and optimize/characterize films for microelectronic applications.